Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CIVIL SOCIETY
GROUPS TO
COMPANIES LINKED
TO THE ACTIVITIES OF
VALE S.A.
Deutsche Bank actions towards ensuring that Vale S.A. provides reparation to the
DZ Bank victims and guarantees of non-repetition.
HSBC
ING Vale S.A currently has 168 dams throughout the Brazilian territory,[1]
Tüv Süd AG
among which 1 out of 3 present a high "potential associated damage"
equivalent to the Mariana and Brumadinho dams,[2] according to
information from the National Water Agency of Brazil. Concrete actions
should be urgently taken to remedy situation.
The International Articulation of People Affected by Vale has been denouncing the
danger of reducing operational costs and expenses in Vale's operations at the
company's shareholder meetings, arguing the company was expanding the risks of
incidents such as the one that occurred in Mariana in November 2015 and now in
Brumadinho. Vale S.A. did not take the necessary preventive measures to resolve
the growing risk of rupture.
In addition, the people affected by the breakdown of the Fundão dam, owned by
Samarco, a joint-venture between Vale and BHP Billiton, continue without fair
compensation and the companies involved remain unpunished.[6]
The negligence of Vale S.A., not only engages its own responsibility, but also the
responsibility of its business partners. By virtue of the United Nations Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights, and in some cases of binding national
and regional legislation[7], all companies bear a duty of due diligence, in order to
identify, prevent, mitigate and respond to the negative consequences of their
activities on human rights and the environment[8].
Demanding Vale S.A. to provide integral, prompt and effective redress the
victims of the rupture of the tailings dams of Fundão and Brumandinho;
Demanding Vale S.A to immediately adopt concrete, timely and effective
measures to contain the damage, including internal investigation and analysis
by an independent and multi-partite body, on the facts and their causes, in
order to identify irregularities and failures, and formulate recommendations to
adopt effective guarantees of non-repetition;
Demanding the adoption of urgent and concrete measures to verify the status
of all dams belonging to Vale S.A. throughout the Brazilian territory, especially
those presenting a particularly high risk, and adopt preventive measures to
ensure the same events will not happen again ;
In the absence of a prompt and satisfactory response from Vale S.A. exercise
their leverage, including by suspending their business relationship until the
necessary measures for redress and guarantees of non-repetition are adopted.
Ensure that all the above-mentioned measures are taken in consultation with the
affected people and civil society organizations, through a transparent process that
guarantees the independence of the analysis, the effectiveness of preventive
measures and the adequacy of the reparations.